Who was/is Sonny Burgess ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more

Sonny Burgess: The Classic Recordings 1956-1959

Out to the dancehall
Cut a little rug
We're runnin' like wildfire
And hittin' that jug..

A cursory listen to some of Sonny Burgess's records suggests a life lived close to the edge - nights spent playing gin mills followed by drunken chases down dirt roads, firing off bottle rockets and puking over the neighbour's car at dawn. In person, though, Burgess is a somewhat shy and self-effacing family man. The occasional comment will hint at more turbulent waters but he hasn't lived the life one might anticipate from some of his lyrics, which is just as well, otherwise there might not be a Sonny Burgess to talk to. When Sun's crop of rockabilly singers forsook the shaking music they usually reverted back to their first love - country music.

Sonny Burgess was the exception. His passion was Rhythm & Blues. He had a true R&B voice like a tenor sax in full cry. It was short on subtlety and delicate shadings - but a magnificent rock & roll instrument. Soon after he quit the music business, Burgess took a salesman's job in a store, and still talks with enthusiasm of an old black guy who used to bring in his guitar, and play loping Jimmy Reed riffs. Sonny would sit and jam with him. Perhaps a blues album is the great Sonny Burgess album that has yet to be made. Born near Newport, Arkansas on May 28, 1931, Albert ‘Sonny' Burgess grew up on a farm, and developed his musical tastes listening to the Grand Ole Opry and the Memphis country stations, taking in R&B from WLAC in Nashville and WDIA in Memphis along the way.

Sonny Burgess did his hitch the Army, and returned to Newport with the thought of a career in baseball, or -failing that- farming. He worked for a spell in a box factory, and slowly put together a semi-pro band that went under several names and through several incarnations, eventually calling themselves the Moonlighters. He was back working on the farm when, as he put it, "farming started interfering with my music." In an early version of the group, Sonny Burgess was the guitarist, Paul Whaley handled the vocals in a Hank Thompson style, Kern Kennedy played piano, Russ Smith was on drums, Johnny Ray Hubbard played bass, and Bob Armstrong handled the accordion. After Whaley went back to California, Sonny Burgess took over the vocals, and Armstrong eventally quit.

There was no shortage of venues because Newport in Jackson County permitted liquor to be sold but was surrounded by dry counties; hence a number of nightclubs out of proportion with Newport's population. They played local nightspots like the Silver Moon, Bob King's and Mike's club. They often played at King's on Friday night; Saturday night belonged to Punky Coldwell, a saxophonist who led a racially mixed jazz dance band. When Elvis Presley came to the Silver Moon Club in October 1955, Sonny Burgess organised the supporting act, and put together Newport's version of a supergroup combining some of Punky's men and the Moonlighters. According to Sonny Burgess, Elvis tried to hire Punky and Kern Kennedy that night to flesh out the meagre sound of Scotty and Bill.

Also, according to Sonny Burgess, Elvis got the idea to record One Night from the Pacers, who often performed it as much as five times a night. For his part, Elvis's contribution to Sonny Burgess's career was to implant the idea of going to record at Sun. At some point early in 1956, the Moonlighters went to Sun for an audition. Sam Phillips told them that they needed a fuller sound so Burgess joined forces with Jack Nance and Joe Lewis who had another local band. It was Lewis who came up with the name 'Pacers' for the new group, copping it from the Pacer airplane. Both Smith and Nance played drums so Nance (who was a music major in college) switched to his other instrument, trumpet. Sonny Burgess had originally wanted a saxophone player to emulate Punky Coldwell, but he figured that the trumpet gave the Pacers a little different sound. On May 2, 1956 Burgess drove back to Memphis. Phillips was impressed with the revamped line-up and cut their debut single that afternoon.

We Wanna Boogie and Red Headed Woman stand among the rawest recordings released during the first flowering of rock ‘n’ roll. The lyrics were almost unintelligible (although they repay close attention with some very funny couplets), and the instrumentation teetered on the edge of atonality. It was a record that sported an air of total abandon, sounding as if it had been created under the heavy burden of alcohol, although Sonny Burgess remembers that everyone was stone cold sober, and nervous to the point of apprehension. Despite being almost unmarketable according to established precepts, Red Headed Woman reportedly sold over 90,000 copies. It did especially well in Boston, although Burgess was unaware of that fact until Nance and Lewis toured there a few years later with Conway Twitty. At that time the Pacers were managed by Gerald Grojean, the assistant manager of a local radio station, KNBY.

On one of their early trips to Memphis, the Pacers went to see Bob Neal, who held the promise of broader horizons and promised to get them on tour with Presley. "We come back home," remembered Sonny Burgess, “and about a year later we hadn't heard nothing so we went back and saw him again. He said that Gerry Grojean had got on the phone crying, saying ‘You can't take them away from me'. Bob said he didn't need all that crap and told Gerry he could keep us." Grojean, who knew little more about the business than the Pacers themselves had no idea how to expose the group outside Newport during a critical stage in their career.

...more Sonny Burgess on Bear Family Records  BCD15525

Sonny Burgess on Wikipedia

Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.

More information about Sonny Burgess on Wikipedia.org

Close filters
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
No results were found for the filter!
Rocks (CD)
Sonny Burgess: Rocks (CD) Art-Nr.: BCD17629

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD (Digipak) with 36-page booklet, 29 tracks. Total playing time approx. 79 min. Albert Austin Burgess - in short 'Sonny' - was an icon and a crowd favorite for generations of Rockabilly fans worldwide. Active in the music scene for...
$16.92 $19.18
Classic Recordings 1956-59 (2-CD)
Sonny Burgess: Classic Recordings 1956-59 (2-CD) Art-Nr.: BCD15525

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

(Bear Family Records) 2-CD, 57 tracks with 32 page booklet. There's nothing wilder in Fifties music than Sonny Burgess's Sun recordings. The complete story is here in 54 incredible rafter shakin', barn burnin' cuts. Several of the...
$22.58 $33.89
Hint!
We Wanna Boogie - Red Headed Woman (7inch, 45rpm, CS, Ltd.)
Sonny Burgess: We Wanna Boogie - Red Headed Woman (7inch,... Art-Nr.: 45REPSUN247

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

(Charly Records) 2 Tracks - limited pressing Official GB re-issue - top sound - few copies left!
$13.52 $16.92
Hint!
We Wanna Boogie (LP, Cut-Out)
Sonny Burgess: We Wanna Boogie (LP, Cut-Out) Art-Nr.: LPROUSS36-C

the very last 1 available
Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

(Rounder) 13 Tracks - original 1950s Sun Records recordings - US pressing (Cut-Out LP with 1cm drillhole in cover corner) superb sound quality - rocks
$11.26 $20.31
Sonny's Back In Town (LP, 10inch, Ltd.)
Sonny Burgess: Sonny's Back In Town (LP, 10inch, Ltd.) Art-Nr.: LPSUNSC1285

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(Charly) 10 tracks - limited edition (1.000) - pink vinyl. Some of the wildest records cut on Sam Phillips' Sun label bear the legend Sonny Burgess. Sonny's Back In Town fully illustrates the singer-songwriter's hard-rocking, manic...
$28.24
SSonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers - Ain't Got No Home (LP & Download, Ltd.)
Sonny Burgess: SSonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers - Ain't... Art-Nr.: LPMR1216003

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(2017/Muddy Roots Music) 12 tracks, recorded at Zane Raney's (son of Wayne Raney) Recording-Studio in Drasco, Arkansas. Including album download code.  ,- Highlight album. great production, good sound/pressing quality, only...
$24.84
Gijon Stomp! (CD)
Sonny Burgess & The Pacers: Gijon Stomp! (CD) Art-Nr.: CDET1025

Item has to be restocked

(2009/EL TORO) 9 tracks (25:52) recorded in Gijon, Spain, September 2007. Great set of new studio recordings, during their 2007 Spain Tour. Neue Studioaufnahmen in voller Besetzung mit Sonny und den Pacers in guter Form und Spiellaune....
$16.92
Everybody's Rocking Again (CD)
Sonny Burgess: Everybody's Rocking Again (CD) Art-Nr.: CDST027

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

(2011/STOMPERTIME) 28 tracks 1959-85 (73:39) with 12 page booklet. Featuring rare & great material from his out of print Rockhouse/ Sunjay & Off-Beat albums. Overdue-reissue!!
$18.05
Tomorrow Night - Truckin' Down The Avenue (7inch, 45rpm)
Sonny Burgess: Tomorrow Night - Truckin' Down The Avenue... Art-Nr.: 45CO4502

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(Custom Pressing) 2 Tracks - big centerhole - limited pressing (300 copies)
$16.92
Gone - Little Town Baby (7inch, 45rpm)
Sonny Burgess: Gone - Little Town Baby (7inch, 45rpm) Art-Nr.: 45CO4512

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

(Custom Pressing) 2 Tracks - big centerhole - limited pressing (300 copies)
$20.31
We Wanna Boogie
Sonny Burgess: We Wanna Boogie Art-Nr.: LPSER488

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(1989/Serdisco-Charly) 13 Tracks. Rare Spanish pressing! Contains previously unissued versions!
$19.80
Red Headed Woman b-w We Wanna Boogie
Sonny Burgess: Red Headed Woman b-w We Wanna Boogie Art-Nr.: REP02111

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

Reproduction of the original 1956 record!
$12.17
Sun Records Jukebox Series - Sonny Burgess & The Pacers (7inch, 45rpm)
Sonny Burgess: Sun Records Jukebox Series - Sonny Burgess &... Art-Nr.: 45NR852

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(2001/Norton) 2-Track Single - Great company sleeve! Godlike fury from the master! Two astonishing Sun discs on one 45! Awesone searing intensity!
$11.26
Live At Sun Studios (LP)
Sonny Burgess: Live At Sun Studios (LP) Art-Nr.: LPC9576

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(Cleopatra Records) 14 tracks - - Obscure 2012 US pressing with Hayden Thompson picture on front cover Founding member of The Pacers and Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee Sonny Burgess performs live at Sun Studios, musical home!
$23.71